Lidl continues to develop its local business at the same pace as it has been doing in the past few years, that is about 10 stores a year.
“Our intention is to expand the Lidl network by at least 10 new stores in financial 2016, which ends in February 2017 for Lidl Romania,” the company officials say.
Since the beginning of the year Lidl has opened stores in Busteni and Radauti, its first in the two cities and has also opened its third store in Targu Mures. Its network now numbers 195 stores, its officials said.
The company goes to big cities, medium-sized cities and even small ones of less than 20,000 people. Being a discount retailer, Lidl can go to small cities with a purchasing power to match, where it competes with local retailers or supermarket chains.
The company invests not only in the development of its network but also of its logistics system. It is currently working on its fourth warehouse in Romania, in Lugoj, Timis County, which will serve the stores in the southwest of the country. Lidl has three more logistics platforms in Bucharest, Prahova County and Mures County. The three total 11-12 hectares together, so Lidl’s total logistics space should reach 15.5 to 16.5 hectares upon completion of the fourth warehouse.
Lidl is investing EUR20 million in this particular project, whose builder is Bog’Art of Romanian-entrepreneur Raul Doicescu, and a similar amount in the expansion of the network, according to ZF’s calculations based on the data supplied by Lidl officials. The company is also building a new headquarters in Bucharest, set to cost several million euros, without revealing how much it plans to spend on it, though.
“The main projects we are focusing on are the construction of the regional headquarters in Lugoj, an investment of more than EUR20 million and the new central headquarters in Bucharest, developed in partnership with Skanska. We are also investing in creating new jobs in each Lidl store we open, which requires at least EUR2 million in capital.”
The investment per store includes the price of land, as ZF found.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)